Heroes of Naturism

Nick Alimonos writes in a recently updated blog post (originally written in 2014)

To break the nudity taboo, something that perpetuates sexism, body hatred, and an unhealthy sex obsessed society, we need heroes. Every movement needs heroes when society’s mores are challenged. There was a time when racism was sanctioned by the Supreme Court, until people like Frederick Douglas, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King challenged those laws.

Full post: Heroes of Naturism

Naturism has no heroes of the stature of those named in that quote. But it certainly does have many heroes of its own. The blog post offers brief profiles of a few of them. A few are celebrities, whose names are known to almost everyone (e. g. Miley Cyrus). Many others are not at all household names, and some are all but unknown even by people who pay attention to news of interest to naturists.

But there are hundreds of others, in addition to those cited in the post, who are currently active (besides the hundreds more who helped get nudism/naturism established during the past century). Advancing public acceptance of naturism can be done in many ways. There are people who organize successful naturist clubs, start or run influential naturist organizations, write for popular blogs, take the initiative to open and protect clothing optional beaches, or work steadily but nearly anonymously where they live to spread the word about naturism and educate many of their neighbors on its many rewards.

Anyone who thinks naturism is a good thing and deserves far better acceptance in society can be a hero. All that’s required is to contribute generously of their time and energy by working in ways that make the best use of their talents to make the world a better place to enjoy social nudity.

Naturism has no future without sustained effort by many who believe in it. Contemporary societies are simply not going to spontaneously recognize the worth of naturism and that people should have the freedom to enjoy social nudity just because the recognition and the freedom are “rights” that are “deserved”. Naturism needs “heroes” who will work to ensure those desirable outcomes.